The following is a transcript of remarks provided by the Orange Bowl...

Offensive
Coordinator Chuck Martin & Everett Golson

JOHN
HUMENIK: We'll go ahead and get started. Here in the main room today we have
offensive coordinator
Chuck Martin and quarterback Everett Golson.

Q. Chuck,
Alabama runs a 3?4 defense, they
call that their base, but Nick Saban acknowledges they're only in that about
20 percent of the time. Does that mean that you have to prepare for two
defenses, three defenses, nickel, dime and
regular? And how complicated is that?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Yeah, they're pretty diverse on defense. They use their three?down
and four?down packages,
much like our defense uses our three?down
and four?down packages. That
was one of the nice things over the last
month was that similar fronts that Alabama uses are the same fronts that Coach
Diaco uses on our defense. So
when you go against your starters a lot of times it's good work because you're
getting speed on speed and big guys
on big guys, but the schemes are completely different. The nice thing preparing
for us is that the fronts that both
teams use, although multiple, it has helped us prepare because we've got to see
those every day in practice.

Q. Is quick
snap the way to attack that and limit their substitutions?

CHUCK
MARTIN: I think at times you can get them, but they've been caught maybe a few
times. It seems like every time
they get caught out of position before the snap ?? I
think one time, Mississippi or Mississippi State hit them on a quick
roll hole shot ?? every other time it
looked like they went right, they snapped the ball and the other team got no yards. It
seems like a good idea when they're subbing to try to get them on their heels,
but they typically just get off blocks and
just run and make plays anyway. I'm not sure if that's the way to go.

Q. Could you
talk about Everett's development, how much he's come along this year. And also,
was there a game or a
play that he performed and you look at it and you said, he's doing what we
want?

CHUCK
MARTIN: I think it's just been steady improvement as the year has gone on. The
nice thing for him, the
difficult thing but the nice thing for him is he got thrown in the fire right
away. When you come out and you play three Big
Ten teams your first four games and two or three huge rivals your first four
games, he didn't get to ease into this thing
like some young quarterbacks do, so he got put in a bunch of different
situations. But I think it's just been steady
progress based on getting out there, getting game experience, learning what
we're trying to do offensively at the same
time, and then just kind of a steady progression. I'd say for me where it
looked like from the box that he was really
starting to get comfortable out there was Oklahoma, and not so much based on
play and performance but just based on
watching him take the field and watching him direct our offenses. Okay, he
looks comfortable. I don't know how
comfortable he is on the inside, you'd have to ask him, but to me it really
looked like to me, okay, he's not worried about too
much, he's just kind of running the show out there.

Q. Everett,
you talked last year about how being put back onto the scout team in retrospect
was good for you.

Talk about
that period and how that helped your development.

EVERETT
GOLSON: Well, I think me being put back on the scout team, it was just really a
humbling experience
for me. Coming in, I thought I was ready to play or had that confidence that I
was ready to play, but it wasn't that
way for me. I think being put back on the scout team, like I said, really
humbled me, made me kind of reassess
myself.

Q. Chuck,
Everett at the beginning wasn't enough, wasn't loud enough, and then he kind of
went over the top. You
talked about that last month at the media day. Describe how he's become just a
better communicator, I guess.

CHUCK
MARTIN: Yeah, just everything he does, there's so much going on on the field
with the way defenses ??
he was talking about the defense has changed so much, and our
offense is pretty sophisticated, there's a lot of
communication both verbally and non?verbally
that needs to go on all the time. It's just nonstop. Just him getting used to that
being on his plate and how to handle it with his offensive linemen, how to
communicate with his receivers, and
understanding that a little hand signal that's misunderstood can derail the
whole play and derail the whole team at that moment.
Just different for him than probably what he was used to. Our communication
system versus maybe what he was
used to in high school, and particularly this year, the amount of checks he
does at the line, both run game, pass
game, protections. So he's got
a lot on his plate and just ?? I
think earlier in the year he had it in his head but maybe not got all the way through
the ranks all the time, but now if you've watched us the last quarter of the
year, at times we're a pretty smooth?flowing
outfit out there.

Q. Everett,
I was just curious, is there a reason or a story behind why you wear the No. 5?

EVERETT
GOLSON: No, not really, I just always wore it from like JV in high school.

Q. You ever
wonder how things might have been different had you kept your commitment to
North Carolina and gone
there instead?

EVERETT
GOLSON: I often do sometimes, but I think me praying about it has helped me to
make the right decision. To
be honest, it wasn't all perfect when I was ?? when
I first came in. But just enduring through the adversity, I
think I've made the right decision

Q. For the
past five weeks your offensive line has heard that Alabama might have the best
offensive line of all time
possibly or in 20 years. Do you get any kind of a sense that they want to make
a statement? And again, from both of your
points of view, particularly you, Everett, what do you see when you're behind
them?

EVERETT
GOLSON: Well, I think not only our offensive line, but I think we as a team
want to kind of make a statement,
being that we were always counted out from the beginning of the year up until
now, we definitely want to make a
statement. But you talk about me being behind the offensive line, for me it's
been a growing process as far as taking
control back there and just kind of communicating with them, and them on the
other side just building that confidence
in me. So it's been tremendous to have a great offensive line like I do.

CHUCK
MARTIN: And I'd say our offensive line is much more concerned with Alabama's
very good defensive line. I
would say we probably don't know a lot about what's been written about
Alabama's offensive line. They've got their own
set of issues dealing with the big boys on the other side of the ball.

Q. Two
questions, and they're both about the gap between games: One, how concerned are
you just from a rhythm
standpoint? Obviously a bowl game there's always a layoff, but this is particularly
long for you guys. And secondly,
over these six weeks how do you not let the enormity of you could be a national
champion quarterback at Notre Dame,
how do you not let that consume you?

EVERETT
GOLSON: I think you just don't look ahead. We still have to prepare, and that's
what has consumed me
this far is really preparing and really watching film, breaking down film on
Alabama. So that's my main focus.

Q. For
Everett and Chuck, when a pocket breaks down and you can extend a play in that
film study of Alabama,
what have you seen that you think becomes vulnerable or becomes an opportunity
against their defense?

EVERETT
GOLSON: Well, I think it's tough. They have a great defense, and like I said
earlier, they play their responsibilities.
So it's going to be hard for us to kind of exploit their defense. But I'm sure
just my ability to improvise, and the
guys' around me ability to improvise, we'll work something out.

Q. Everett,
what's the reception been like back home in Myrtle Beach for you?

EVERETT
GOLSON: It's been great. It's been great, going back home for a couple of days,
had a chance to see a lot of
people, and they were just giving me a lot of encouraging words. It's been
great.

Q. What's
your relationship with Manti Te'o been?

EVERETT
GOLSON: I think me and Manti's relationship grew tremendously this season, and
I think one point in the
season that really emphasized that was the Oklahoma game. We came in at after
time, and I can remember him coming over
to me and was like, "We got you. We're going to take care of our part, we
got you, whatever you do, we got
you." So just having him and having a defensive player just encouraging me
like that has helped me out a lot and made me more
confident and comfortable.

Q. With this
long layoff, were you able to ?? I
know you guys do a lot of self ?analysis
of what happened during the
season and red?zone offense was
one of the major hang?ups going through
12 games. How do you approach
that, especially considering that Alabama's red?zone
defense isn't the one to get healthy again?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Yeah, they're not going to get healthy again. We looked at our run game
and they're not really
healthy to get there, either. No, we looked at all parts of red zone, and
particularly since they don't give up many opportunities.
Unfortunately you're trying to study the opposing's tape, and there's just not
a lot of clips of teams getting down
there. And the few clips when teams get inside their 10 so you can really game
plan and organize a good plan,
the score is typically 48 to nothing, and there's none of the starters on the
field for Alabama. It's hard to game plan
against what they do late in the game when they're up by 50 points. That's the
other task for them is you're trying to
see how you can attack them and what they're going to do against you or certain
formations, and you know they've got
their backups in and they're just kind of finishing out the game. But I think
for us it's like any other part of the field, it's execution, it's playing
physical, it's in the run game, carving out
some space for our running backs, and then obviously in the pass game, giving
Everett some time and then him
making sure he figures out that coverage and where to get the ball and put the
ball in the right place. I don't think
there'll be issues structurally for opportunities to make plays, but they're a
difficult defense, like you alluded to, difficult
defense to get the ball in against.

Q. I believe
the only other freshman quarterback to win a National Championship is Jamelle
Holieway. What do you
remember about him? And have you had anyone like that in your career, a
freshman besides Everett, that you had to get
ready to win?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Yeah, no, I remember Jamelle Holieway and that he was very difficult to
tackle. If he had the ball in
his hands, it was hard to get him down. No, the only time I've been part of it
was, coaches last year at Grand Valley
State, we had a freshman quarterback and won the national title. I would say
the year was very similar to this year as
far as a young guy growing up on the job, and by the time we got to the
National Championship game he was a lot
different player than he was when he ran out in Dublin, Ireland, against Navy.
Very similar from that ?? not very similar
style of quarterbacks but very similar in terms of watching a young player grow
up and really become a player right
in front of your eyes. So very similar to that situation.

Q. Who was
that kid?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Colin Finnerty. And then he went on to win three, so we're hoping that
history repeats itself.
Everybody is worried about that next one, we're trying to make this the first
of three, actually.

No one
thought that was coming out today, huh? You guys are all way too short?minded
with your thinking.

Trying to
think big picture here. (Smiling).

Q. Everett,
I don't know if anybody has mentioned this to you, but there's been talk of you
haven't been on this big a stage
yet. Can you talk about how big the stage is being the quarterback at Notre
Dame. And Coach, talk about what he's
seen so far that might prepare him for this kind of a pressure game.

EVERETT
GOLSON: Well, I think like you said, it is a big stage, but I think just the
person that I am doesn't really ??
I don't ride the wave too much. I'm kind of just focused on
what's played between the yard lines, what's played on
the field. Can't really focus on everything that's off the field because that's
out of my control.

CHUCK
MARTIN: I'd say just for him, our schedule, first?ever
college game in Dublin, Ireland, first?ever
home game against
Purdue, road game primetime Michigan State, night game at Notre Dame against
Michigan, on the road at Oklahoma,
on the road at USC, coming off the bench, doing all the things that he's been
through, he's about as battle
tested ?? take any other
quarterback this year and try to figure out if they've gone through as much as
Everett Golson. To
me it's not even close. Not even close.

If you look
at game by game, and for our football team, we're pretty battle tested. I don't
know if we're good enough to
beat Alabama, but if we're good enough to beat Alabama, I think our kids have
shown that they're a pretty resilient
bunch, and they're pretty battle tested whether it be home or away. They've
been told for 12 weeks that they weren't good
enough to get this far, and somehow we're sitting in front of you guys
answering questions. So he's pretty
battle tested.

Q. Last
spring you mentioned that Coach Kelly had always been one of the most hands?on
coaches in America, and
he really wanted to get back to that in his third year. Can you talk about how
that played out. And Everett,
from your perspective, Coach Kelly's role in your development and being hands
on.

CHUCK
MARTIN: I just think it's been an interesting process this year. I think I
would say it's kind of morphed from a time
where in spring he was very hands on to where now he kind of likes the way
things look out there, and he's
probably a little more back to being a little more big picture. I think he was
bound and determined to get some things
corrected on offense, i.e., turnovers, for the most part, and was really bound
and determined to do that in the spring.

And then I
think he had a new offensive staff and he had some new players, including a new
quarterback. I think once
everybody settled in, I think he's a little bit more back to just running the
whole outfit, which he's pretty good at.

EVERETT
GOLSON: I think for me, talking about coming from the spring, one of my main
focuses or one of his main
focuses for me was the mechanics of being a quarterback. I think he's helped me
out a lot with that, and I've shown
progression from the start of the season until now.

Q. Everett,
Coach said earlier that he felt like it was the Oklahoma game when things began
to come together for you.
When do you feel like you began to really feel comfortable out there? And
compare how you feel now to how you felt at
the beginning of the year.

EVERETT
GOLSON: Well, for me, I would think it's probably the Miami game for me, you
know, just going through kind
of what I've been through, and then coming back and just trying to help this
team be successful. You know, I
think that built a little bit of confidence in me, and I think it ??
what was instilled in me there showed in the Oklahoma
game and the Pitt game. That's it.

Q. Everett,
kind of building off that a little bit, you were joking that it was easier for
you to go out and practice that it was
to talk to the media, you were kind of sweating during that press conference.
When did you kind of get comfortable
with the spotlight, the attention, and the focus on you as the quarterback at
Notre Dame?

EVERETT
GOLSON: I think having that from the beginning of the season, I kind of had to.
I can remember the first
time being ??

CHUCK
MARTIN: You can still tell he's more comfortable out there playing than talking
to these yahoos.

EVERETT
GOLSON: No, the first time it was a little nerve wracking for everybody. I've
calmed down a lot.

Q. If I say
to you "Theo Riddick", what's the first thing that pops into your
head?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Pound for pound as good a football player as they make.

Q. Cierre
Wood.

CHUCK
MARTIN: As explosive a player as they make.

Q. Atkinson.

CHUCK
MARTIN: Really explosive athlete.

Q. So take
me behind, if you can, like into the war room. When you guys know you have
these three backs, how did you
guys go about determining how you would maximize the three of them?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Just based on what they do well day to day. We spent obviously tons of
time practicing, and they all
get opportunities to run all our plays and then you try to slot the guys in
positions where you know they can help the
team the most. Whether it be inside run, outside run, pass block in, receiving,
different routes, even different
style of runs, we try to utilize all their strengths.

The truth be
told, they all could be a feature back, they all could do all the things.
Everybody is like, he plays more, what's
wrong with him? There's nothing wrong with any of the three. We'd like to get
George 20 carries a game but there's
one football. Coach and I had a discussion at the beginning of the year,
"We have to get George more touches,"
and I'm like, "I'm with you, we've got to run more plays." Whose
touches do we want to take away? We don't want to take
away any of the three.

It's a
credit to all three of them that they've stuck with it and prepared hard every
week, and some weeks they've
gotten more touches, but that's the nature of the beast. But we're very
fortunate to have three very talented kids at that
position.

Q. Can you
just talk about being from SEC territory, how did you pick Notre Dame? And when
you go back home how
much do you hear about SEC football and the six National Championships in a
row? And do you ever get tired of
hearing about the SEC?

EVERETT
GOLSON: Well, being that I am from the South, you kind of hear about the SEC
schools a lot. I remember I
used to get questioned, why didn't you go to South Carolina or any other SEC
school? But like I said earlier, God
has a plan for me. I feel that I'm at the right place, and that's why I chose
Notre Dame

Q. Everett,
how does it make you feel to be a part of such a great storied tradition that
you guys have there at Notre Dame?

EVERETT
GOLSON: Tremendous, tremendous. You know, just being a part of ??
even with this team, just a great group
of guys like I do have the opportunity to play with is just tremendous for me.
So it's a good feeling.

Q. Would you
just talk a little bit about your time at Grand Valley and coming to Muscle
Shoals and playing for the National
Championship several times, and how it is different on this stage.

CHUCK
MARTIN: One, it was awesome every time we went down there. As you know, we
couldn't have enjoyed our
experiences down there any more. It became a home away from home for us.

Not much
different. I know it's a bigger stage. There's more people in the pressroom.
There's more fans running
around. But it's the same deal. You start preparing in January, and all the
time and energy that the players go through and
everything you watch them do from on the field, off the field, the summertime to
fall camp to all the games, and it's all
about trying to get to this moment where next Tuesday we turn our equipment in
no matter what. We always
talked about that. We want to play until the last day you can turn equipment
in, and obviously we're doing that at Notre
Dame this year.

To me it's
very similar. It doesn't feel any different. I know everybody says, well, it's
a bigger stage, and it's not. It's a
football game and it's a National Championship game, and fortunately for me
it's seven times in 12 years we've gotten
to go try to win it all. It's been a good time, more fun than we should be
allowed to have, actually.

Q. Did you
work out with the receivers at all in the summertime? And if not, how long did
it take you to get comfortable,
especially with Tyler? And on another note, when Pittsburgh was lining up for
the field goal and missed it, how far
did your emotions swing?

EVERETT
GOLSON: Well, like I said, I'm not really the person to ride the wave.
Definitely you're hoping and praying that
he does miss it, so we'll have an opportunity to come down and win it.

But like I
said, you talk about working out with the wide receivers, I think that's been
an emphasis for me, just for me it
was really just trying to gain their trust and showing them that I could get
the ball to them, and just getting timing down
and stuff like that.

CHUCK
MARTIN: We're still working on it with Tyler, just so you know. We've got
practice, so we're going to try to get
better at it this afternoon.

Q. Do you
still play piano, keyboard, drums, and ??

EVERETT
GOLSON: Yeah.

Q. How
accessible is that stuff to you on campus? And how big a role does that play in
your life, be it a break from
football?

EVERETT
GOLSON: Well, I think music is like my outlet. You talk about how accessible it
is, it's very accessible
for me because I actually have a keyboard in my room. There's many times where
I come from practice or come from
class, and I'll just sit down and play. Like I said, it's more so my outlet,
kind of lets me get away from hat's actually
going on, what I'm actually doing.

Q. You
mentioned back in August kind of this great unknown going into the season. You
had never really seen
obviously Everett play in a game. Is the National Championship almost sort of
that great unknown that Navy was, just
that none of these players have been in this situation before?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Yeah, it is. They'll realize pretty quickly it's like any other game.
I'd say the first series isn't.

The first
series will be ?? they'll realize the
enormity of the moment when they go out there. But once those big guys start
chasing them around, kind of instincts take over. I guarantee you the first set
of drives they probably won't be thinking
this is the National Championship, they'll be thinking, I've got to find a window
to throw the ball.

That's the
biggest thing, from coach being in some games and me being in a bunch of them,
just trying to impart on
them what's it going to be like when you go out there, and they want it to be
something it isn't. It's just a game. Whoever
executes better is going to win the game. Whoever doesn't turn it over, whoever
can throw it over the other team's
head, that's who is going to win the game. It has nothing to do with the 43
days or all the things that we try to make
out, how is the game going to be determined. Execution is going to determine
this game, just like it determines
every other football game. We've got to keep them in that mind.

Q. Chuck,
question for you on your transition: Obviously you went from being a safety
coach to running the offense, an
offense that lost Michael Floyd and had to replace some pieces. What was that
process like for you, and what made
you confident that you could be a guy that could go from being a position coach
on the defensive side of the ball to
running the offense?

CHUCK
MARTIN: The confidence part comes from doing it before earlier in my career
when I spent 12 years on defense
and moved to offense, when I didn't know anything about it really. I thought I
did. When you're the head coach you
can pretend you know something about anything. So doing that transition before,
going from one side of the ball to
the other.

And then
being here for a couple years and thinking that we had a good plan for how this
team could win games, we
didn't go over there and just say, what are we going to do now, and there's a
lot of discussions involved in how can we
win at Notre Dame, what's the right model to win at Notre Dame, and what's the
right model to win this football
team. The nice thing, we've kind of stuck with the plan, it's been a grind for
everyone involved at times, and it's been a
process. But what we set out to do probably did a couple years before we
thought they were capable, but having some
talented players like the ones in these rooms certainly help out.

But just
doing it before, going from defense to offense, and then having the familiarity
with our program and our kids and
saying this is how Notre Dame is going to get back on top, this is how they're
going to win football games.

Q. Talk
about any pregame traditions that you have or rituals or anything you see in
the locker room, anything interesting
that you guys see as you prep minutes up to the game.

EVERETT
GOLSON: I don't think it's ?? for
me, I know personally it's not a ?? I
don't really have any pregame rituals. I
think maybe the only thing is I sing a little bit, and some of the guys will
sing a little bit, too. But we're mostly like focused
for the most part, just focused on the test that we have ahead.

CHUCK
MARTIN: Yeah, we have no superstitions, zero. Everybody wants to find ??
actually I have one: When you
walk in the locker room to address your guys, there's a lot of really good
players in there. That's my superstition.
If you go in there and you look, that Everett Golson, he's a pretty good
player. Other than that, we try not to do
anything the same way twice because then we can never be off schedule, we can
never ?? we didn't put our socks on the
right way today. There's a lot of things that can creep in your mind and help
you lose a game. We try to stay away
from those.

Q. You spoke
a few minutes ago about not riding the wave, particularly in that Pitt game.
What was that like when that
Pitt game was over?

EVERETT
GOLSON: It was tremendous. It was a real enjoyable time, just for the Notre Dame
community.

You talk
about the game, I think certain situations that was in that game allowed for me
not to, unless my confidence would have
been shot, talking about me throwing that pick late in the game. If I would
have got down on myself or not believed, we
wouldn't be sitting here today.

So I think
me ?? like I said, me not riding that wave, and me
just always believing that we were going to win and having
that confidence has helped us get to this point right now.

Q. After all
the wins, all the victories, all the practice, inevitably there's going to be
those two plays and some of us in the
media are going to say there's that victory and the luck of the Irish. Is that
something you relish or is that something
that drives you nuts when they declare your victory luck when really it's your
talent?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Well, I think in life there's a certain amount of luck in everything
that happens every day.

People
always wish you good luck, and I always tell them, hey, we'll take all the luck
we can get. People that have been around
team sports in general, and particularly football, know that if you prepare the
right way and you do the right things
all the time or you try to do things the right way all the time, none of us do
it but we all try to, it seems like those teams
get a lot luckier than other teams. There's certain people that have won a lot
of games and there's certain
players that have won a lot of games. And the ones that lose never get deemed
lucky, so the ones that win are always going
to get deemed lucky. So we don't mind it too much.

EVERETT
GOLSON: I think for me it's like a combination of luck and preparing. And when
you said that I started to
think about the Pitt game. We were somewhat lucky that he missed the field
goal, but we were also prepared to
drive down the field and win for ourselves.

CHUCK
MARTIN: The other thing is, too, when you look at games, they remember the last
?? was Pitt lucky when we
fumbled the ball going in with no one touching our tailback? Was Pitt lucky
maybe when we had an opportunity
to throw an inside vertical in the first quarter to a guy wide open?

EVERETT
GOLSON: (Laughs).

CHUCK
MARTIN: So there's hundreds of plays, you guys just tend to pick out one or two
that you remember.

We remember
a lot more than you guys do.

Q. Can you
talk about the TJ Jones' development at receiver. And at a place like Notre
Dame where tradition seems to
matter so much, how much more pressure is there on legacy kids?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Yeah, I think there's a little bit more just because everybody talks
about, why is that kid there? Is he
there because he's a good player or because he's the son of a former great
Notre Dame player? So you have that
burden when you're a legacy kid, which is unfair. But I think they get it
because they've been around it.

Biggest
thing from TJ is he's always been an excellent game player. His ball skills are
ridiculous. It's hard to throw a ball
he won't catch for you. He's a great route runner. He's super quick. He
understands the game, he's tough. He
has all the traits. He'd probably love to be 6'5", maybe a little bigger,
but that's not how he is.

The biggest
thing he's really helped our team is how he practices because he's probably a
little bit known as a gamer, and
kind of prepared enough to get ?? but
him practicing not always made him a better player but probably marginally
better because he's always played really good in games for us, but really set
the tone for a new receiving group, a
young receiving group with Michael leaving a big void there. He's really set
the tone as leadership for our offense how
he practices every day, which is what we're most thankful for him because we
knew he could play.

Q. Everett,
what's the best advice that you got coming into this game, and where did it
come from?

EVERETT
GOLSON: The best advice?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Better be something I told you. (Laughter.)

EVERETT
GOLSON: Let me see. The race is not given to the swift or the strong. I'm
paraphrasing. But ??

CHUCK
MARTIN: I definitely didn't tell him this one.

EVERETT
GOLSON: ?? but it's given to
the one that endures to the end. Like you said, we're obviously the underdogs
coming into this game, but I think that kind of really dissuades what we're
talking about going into the game.
Alabama has, like I said, a great defense, great team, bigger, faster,
stronger. But it's really about who's going to endure to
the end and play hard for four quarters.

Q. You've
got so much experience on both sides of the ball for a long time. Can you
remember a time when it has not been
about controlling those A and B gaps? In other words, spread option offenses,
you've still got to run the ball and
stop the run up front.

CHUCK
MARTIN: Yeah, no, the game is a pretty simple game that a lot of coaches and
media try to make it more
difficult than it is. No matter what defense that you put together, you don't
put guys in every gap, and when guys aren't in
the gap Alabama is going to take advantage of that, Notre Dame is going to take
advantage of that. As big and strong
as both front sevens are, if there's somebody not in a gap, air is not very big
and strong. That's what both teams are
trying to do, carve out some space in the run game and make sure their team has
no space. Obviously both teams very
good offensive lines and very good running backs, so you can't give them a lot
of room. Both teams' running
backs proved that; you give them a little bit and they'll take a lot.

It's very
simple, it's preparation. Kids understand it's not always your scheme, but it's
your kids understanding your scheme
is actually more important than the Xs and Os putting together. And getting the
kids buying in and to believe in
that, that it's not about running around chicken with a head cut off and trying
to make every play, and being 1/11 of our
offense or 1/11 of our defense.

Q. Everett,
earlier you said growing up in South Carolina you heard so much about the SEC
but that you were very happy
with your decision to go to Notre Dame. That being said, how much are you
looking forward to not just taking on
Alabama but personally taking on the SEC?

EVERETT
GOLSON: Well, I really didn't think of it like that. I just kind of see it as
not necessarily just the SEC, I see
it as another game. I see it as an opportunity for us to win the National
Championship. So I think that's what I take
it on as.

Q. Chuck,
can you describe how patient you had to be with Everett early on and how he
tested it and when you felt
like the light went on.

CHUCK
MARTIN: The thing for us with Everett is our confidence never wavered in
anything he was going to become. We
were just pushing the envelope to how quickly we could get him to the level we
knew he could play. So there was
never ?? patience I guess is
the right word, but in our mind we never really viewed it as ??
he was our guy, and we knew
mentally what he was capable of doing, we knew physically what he was capable
of doing, and we knew there
was going to be a maturation process like any other young, particularly at the
quarterback position at the University
of Notre Dame.

It's no
different anywhere, just people want it to happen today and he wanted it to
happen today and so did we. But we
were more realistic, we were probably more realistic than him. He probably put
more pressure on himself and had
higher demands of how quickly he wanted to play at the level he knew he could
play. So for us it was just a matter of
keep evaluating day by day where he's at and what buttons to push and just
getting to know him because it's hard, you
put in the offense and you teach them all the ?? he
talked about the technical part of his footwork and you talk about
the reads and all that, and he had all that stuff down a long time ago. Now it
was trying to get him to play comfortable
and relaxed and communicate and all the other things that go into that
position.

It was just
a process, and we knew we were going to stick with it. I don't know that he
knew we were always going to
stick with it, but there was never any doubt in our mind of what he was going
to become for us.

Q. When did
you think the light went on?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Yeah, I thought he looked most comfortable ??
he says Miami, which makes sense, which was before
that. But for me it wasn't ?? the
frustrating thing for me because we had conversations after things that happened on
the field, and he would see it. I was like, dude, did you ??
"yeah, I see it." Okay. He would be telling me like I would
be going to correct something. But the comfort level was he was seeing it at a
very young age. The frustrating
thing was he was seeing it and not always reacting to it.

But I felt like
just how he ran on the field at Oklahoma gave our whole team confidence because
he seemed very
comfortable and calm out there, not that he's always calm talked to him knows
his non?verbals on the
field were outstanding
that night, and to me that's the night that I really saw the maturation.

Q. What
specific difficulties have you encountered in game planning for this Alabama
defense?

CHUCK
MARTIN: The specific thing is how good they are, because there are certain
things that structurally ?? okay,
run game, we should be able to do this, like if other teams lined up like this,
we would run this run play, and itwould be
pretty successful. Now can we block them? Can we actually execute the block?
And then the same thing in the pass
game: This looks like it would have a chance for success, but can we get open
on that corner or can we protect the
quarterback long enough?

And then if
you get ?? like most teams,
but they're more so than some that we've gone up against, if you get to 3rd and
long, they throw a lot of stuff at you, and then it becomes more problematic to
see what they're doing, and then they do
a good job of if your quarterback checks and they change the defense right
after he checks or what he just checked
for is no longer there, now they do a very good job of when they get you in 3rd
and long. I went through the 3rd and
long ?? they've gotten more fumbles and
interceptions and sacks than they've given up 1st downs on 3rd and 7?plus,
which is ?? if you want to get
demoralized if you're a Notre Dame fan, watch the Alabama 3rd and 7 plus tape, which
we did one morning, and then we called it a day after that because we were all
demoralized. If they just punted on
3rd down the whole season against Alabama than actually going for it on 3rd and
7?plus. They do a very good job in
those situations.

Q. You kind
of alluded to some of this, but there's this perception that if you give Saban
a month plus to prepare for
anybody, he'll take any offense apart. How much does that play into changes you
may or may not make in a game like
this, and how much do you look back at the LSU game and the Texas game to see
how they might have changed what
they do?

CHUCK
MARTIN: I mean, they kind of do what they do. Obviously everybody has a little
bit of a 3rd down wrinkle, but
they've had so much success, you don't anticipate them, other than a wrinkle on
a blitz here or there, changing
their defense. No one moved the ball against them Notre Dame, for as long as I
can remember, so why would they
change for the University of Notre Dame. If they did change drastically that
would be heck of compliment.

I don't
anticipate that. I think
structure we can have some confidence that we know what we are going to get in
certain situations and certain
formations, and they have enough in their package that there's enough there to
keep you off balance.

But both
teams have 43 days to prepare, and both teams know what the other teams have
done to get here, and both
teams know their tendencies. They know our tendencies pretty well, but we know our
tendencies pretty well, too.
It'll be a fun night when it comes to the chess match part of it.

Q. Everett,
can you describe your experiences since getting down here to South Florida and
how the events leading up
to the game have affected your preparation for the game?

EVERETT
GOLSON: Well, I don't think it affected my preparation. It's been a great time
being down here in South Beach.
But like I said, it hasn't affected my preparation partially due to the fact
that my preparation didn't start when I got
here; it was 43 days or however many or so days before this that I've been
preparing.

So I'm still
preparing the same way.

Q. Everett,
I know that the former starter Rees led the winning drive in the opener and
that you didn't start against
Miami. I guess you were benched for breaking a team rule or something. But I'm
wondering, your relationship with him,
has it been awkward at times? Have you been humbled at times during the season?
What have you learned from that?
And just talk about your relationship.

EVERETT
GOLSON: It hasn't been awkward at all. I think Tommy Rees, being there in the
beginning for me, has helped
me out tremendously, kind of helped me to become the player that I am and
become more confident in my play.

You talk
about me being put out those games, it was for the betterment of the team. At
the time, to be honest, I couldn't see
it because the competitor in me wanted to be on the field, but the coaches did
what was best for the team, and that's
why we're 12?0 today.

And like I
said, Tommy has been great. He's been nothing but professional, nothing but a
friend to me through this whole
process.

Q. I don't
know how much Coach Martin knows about this, but coming out of high school you
had actually hoped to
play both college basketball and football. Whatever happened to that? Did you
ever talk to Coach Brey about it? I
know you talked to Coach Williams. If you had gone to North Carolina do you
think there was a chance that that
would have happened?

Obviously
basketball is my love. That's what I love. But my primary right now is
football. I'd like to say I would like to have the
chance of playing basketball someday here. But like I said, football is my primary,
and what I'm focused on right now is
the National Championship

Q. If you
had gone to North Carolina do you think there was a chance you'd be playing
both?

EVERETT
GOLSON: Maybe so, but you can never say.

CHUCK
MARTIN: He's pretty good at his hobby, this being his hobby. Primary love
basketball is just what he does on the
side, he's actually pretty decent at.

Q. How much
have you guys watched the Texas A & M film, and what did they do so well
against Alabama that got them to
win that football game?

CHUCK
MARTIN: They had it 21?0 in the first
quarter, got a couple short fields, their quarterback did a good job
improvising on some key snaps in the first quarter and hurt them with his legs.
Obviously a couple of huge scrambles
and an infamous touchdown play that he pulled off.

And then the
other thing that they did is in key 3rd down situations, they had more success
against Alabama than
probably anyone else. They actually ?? in
some very adverse, made some huge catches right at the sticks and found some
ways to get 1st downs. And then they made some plays in the fourth quarter.

So jumping
out, I don't anticipate being up 21?0
the first quarter, but that would be absolutely nice if that would ever happen.
But 3rd downs were key for them, and then their quarterback ad?libbing
a little bit, and when things weren't
there, he made three or four plays. So we're planning on him doing the same
thing for us, that when we call a lousy play,
he just ad?libs a little bit,
make something happen, which he has a tendency to do at times, which we really like.

Q. How much
harder was it to get the ball to Eifert this year? How did he deal with that?
And how is his backup
Niklas doing in terms of being an heir apparent to that position?

CHUCK
MARTIN: There's no heir apparent to what Tyler can do in the pass game for us.
Even yesterday we threw three
or four balls that I actually stopped, looked away because I knew they were
incomplete passes, and then heard
somebody yell, "great catch, Tyler." I'm like, he caught that one?

His ability
to run and catch and his target being so tall is obviously ??
you're not going to replace it. But Troy has done a
great job. He's really been our starting tight end because we move Tyler all
over the place and done an unbelievable
job blocking. Our offensive line has gotten a lot of credit for our run game
along with our backs, but our tight ends
are huge. Tyler has done a great job blocking and Troy has done a great job
blocking, too.

It's harder
to get to him this year because he is he's our go?to
guy. When everybody was doubling Floyd, you've got
some favorable match?ups with Eifert and
now he is Floyd. Why don't you throw to him more in the red zone? You
ever hear of Houdini try to find one?on?one
match?ups in the red zone for Eifert because you
design your whole
offense, throw 80, then there's two guys pre?snap
line all over him, and you can't just keep jamming the ball.

We try to
find some one?on?one
matches, but it's been very difficult, no doubt.

Q. You've
been a head coach before, obviously lower level. You have aspirations to do
that again at the FBS level, and
if so, what sort of is the threshold, going from Notre Dame assistant to head
coach at another FBS school? What are the
criteria?

CHUCK
MARTIN: I'm not sure I understand the question. The threshold meaning what?

Q. It's a
pretty good gig I think being offensive coordinator at Notre Dame. What's the
threshold FBS coaching job, I've
really got to take this one, or do you wait for the perfect gig?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Yeah, I don't know. I just think the situation, the place. I don't
think there's a master plan, and I don't
think of it near enough. I'm told all the time about that I don't ??
I've been fortunate in my career. I've always
believed what my dad taught me, keep your head down and work hard and it'll all
sort itself out. When I got into this
thing way back when, I probably didn't have the pedigree or I ??
typically you play at a bigger school and you end up
starting a little bit higher up, and I went to some great places and kind of mumbled
around for a while.

To me keep
working, keep winning and opportunities come and you evaluate the
opportunities. If it's the right opportunity
for your wife and kids, you do it. If it's not, you won't. And
certainly your point of being the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame, there's
less jobs that look appealing that ??
I've gotten some phone calls the last couple years that five
years ago I would have pinched myself if I got the call, and
I'm scratching my head like, am I really not interested in this? What the heck
is the matter with you. It's been a fun
journey. I try not to worry about it, otherwise it'll drive you nuts.

Q. A lot of
the players in the other room said that you being offensive coordinator there's
been a simplification of things
this year. Why did you think things needed to be simplified and how did you do
that to get this offense moving along
when you took over?

CHUCK
MARTIN: Well, I think it starts with the offensive staff being on the same page
all the time, and walking out
to the practice field with a plan, whether it's a good plan or a bad plan, walk
out there with a plan and make sure
the kids understand the plan and why we're doing the things we're doing. It
becomes simpler for these guys when
you're not going with the military "you do this because I'm the coach and
you say it," and they'll do it because
that's how kids, athletes are trained. If you tell them what to do, hey, shut
up and do it, they'll shut up and do it because
that's how they're wired. But they'll think it's simpler when they understand
why you're doing it. Okay, we're running this
route versus this coverage and here's why we're going to do it and this is why
it's going to be successful, and then
they look at it, and we're fortunate at Notre Dame we've got some very, very,
very intellectual kids that they want to know
the whys. Everett doesn't want to just see a new route and say, okay, I'll run
it, Coach. And then he goes and
studies tape, like he's talked about a bunch, and he looks at the tape, okay.
If he has questions, he comes back and
he's like, I know what we're trying to do, but I see this guy that might be
here on this, and then we kind of collaborate
and work together.

I think
getting our kids to understand the whys and not so much the hows has been a big
benefit and something
that they take a lot of comfort in.

Q. Tell me,
do you think there's any weaknesses in this Alabama defense that you can
exploit personally? And how does it
feel to play in the biggest game of your life?

EVERETT
GOLSON: Is this for me?

CHUCK
MARTIN: I'm not playing, dude. The spread would be a lot higher if I was.

EVERETT
GOLSON: Like we've said time and time again, Alabama has a great defense, and
there's many things that
they do, talking about switching out from three down to four down, just simple
things like that that you have to prepare
for or you have to have it instituted. But for me it's definitely going to
be a great opportunity to compete for this
National Championship, so I'm looking forward to it.

OT
Zach Martin

On
the experience since arriving…

"Everything
has been great since we arrived. We practiced yesterday at the Dolphins
facility, which was pretty cool. The biggest
thing right now is just getting used to the weather. It has been about 20
degrees up in South Bend and we were
practicing indoors, so now we have to get used to 80 degree heat down here,
which we will."

On
Alabama's defensive line…

"I think
collectively they will be the toughest defensive line we face. We have played
some talented players, but collectively
Alabama is the most talented. They are big, physical and have guys that can
stop the run. They can also get after
the quarterback, so we will have to be on our game."

On
the style of Alabama's defense…

"They are
similar to our defense, which we see every day. They have big d-linemen who can
stop the run and rush the passer.
Also, Alabama has mobile linebackers who can make big plays and an active
secondary, so very similar to our defense. We
will have to be ready."

On
what it will take to be successful…

"Executing
will be key. We have to be able to execute and not give the defense anything.
From what we've seen on film,
Alabama's defense is very good so we do not want to shoot ourselves in the
foot."

On
the acclimation to South Florida…

"The first
day with the weather was a little tough, but that's just flying the day before
and going from 20 degrees to 80 degrees. It
takes about a day to get used to it. We will be fine."

On
praise for Alabama's defense…

"They are a
very talented group obviously. We try not to listen to that, and I know our
team is trying to stay out of what the media is
saying. They are talented, but we know our offensive line has put in the work
and is ready to go out and give it our
all and prove that we are pretty good too."

On
being the underdog…

"Whenever
you are the underdog you get tired of hearing stuff, but we are not worried
about that. We are here to win a football
game, not listen to all the talk."

On
preparations for the game…

"I think we
have done a great job all year in avoiding distractions. Coach [Brian] Kelly
and the staff have prepared us each week as
if it is a one-game season. Everyone talks about all the time since the last
game, but I think it's gone really fast.
It hasn't been that big a deal since we were practicing up there and now down
here. We are doing what we have done
all season in preparing for the game, not changing anything from the routine."

TE
Tyler Eifert

On
Alabama's defense

"They are
just a sound defense that's physical, is fast, and flies around. They got great
cover guys and a great front seven, just
all around a good defense. They will be the best defense we face all year. We've
seen a good front seven before [and]
we've played some good corners, but just as a whole they're a complete defense."

On
toughest challenge in this game

"To stay
patient with the game plan. It's going to be a long, tough game [so] we got to
stick with it and keep grinding."

On
QB Everett Golson

"He's been
prepared well, he's had a great month of preparation and I think he will do just
fine. He's gotten a lot better. Anytime you're
a young quarterback and you get some more time and start, you're going to get
better and get more experience.
I think he's taken the coaching better from the coaches and understanding what
their looking for in the offense and
that's really helped him."

On
Notre Dame's greatest asset

"We are a
team that will play for four quarters and we got great lineman on defense and
offense."

On
Alabama being through this before

"It's got to
be helpful just to have been through the preparation [with]having so much time
off and knowing what to expect come
game time."

WR
TJ Jones

On
the adjustment to being in South Florida:

"It's been a
little difficult, especially the weather. It's a lot warmer down here than we're
used to. Even up in South Bend we were
practicing inside and the humidity down here you just can't duplicate up there,
so it's been kind of difficult."

On
what it means for Notre Dame to be in this position

"I think now
it has a lot to do with restoring Notre Dame to glory. Last one was in '88; it's
been a while. People expect Notre Dame
to be great; they expect greatness of us. So winning that national title would
bring that buzz back to Notre Dame that
they've been missing for the past couple of years."

On
the magnitude of these two schools

"People
always say that in order to be the best you've got to beat the best. Alabama,
just like Notre Dame, has been one of the
best through history and most recently they've been one of the best teams in
about the last five years. So if we want to
be the number one team in the nation and go undefeated, we have to beat an
Alabama-caliber team."

On
how it has been having such a long break from football

"It's been
slow and painful. There's a lot of anxiety; you're ready to play. And finally
getting down here, with all the weeks you've
sat out of practice, I guess it's here now and we're excited."

On
how Everett Golson is going to handle the pressure

"I think he's
going to handle it fine, just like he's handled the spotlight in other games
this year. What we have to do as players is
not blow this game up to bigger than what the national championship is. There's
obviously going to be added
pressure from it being the national championship but we just have to know how
to control that and play our game."

RB
Theo Riddick

On
how real this moment is now that they are down in South Florida...

"You
start to get the buzz. You start to get a little more intense. It's really like
a reality check. We had so much time off and to be
down here, everything starts to hit you."

On
what is the best part of Alabama's defense and what is the key to moving the
ball...

"That
front four. Very good and very powerful. A lot of teams have had a hard time
moving [the ball]. We've got to pass the ball and
we've got to run the ball. You can't become one dimensional against this team
because they can light us up in a
heartbeat."

On
trying to balance enjoying this trip and being focused for the game...

"I mean
you've got to have fun at the same time. You can't be uptight your full time
here. We realize that. We are the type of team
that we know when to have fun and we know when to take things a little more
serious."

On
overcoming the pressure of this big game…

"To be
honest with you, personally I don't feel the pressure. I think as a bunch, I
don't think we feel the pressure. We just go out
there and we have fun and we play for each other."

On
how much contact has there been in practice...

"We
have had a lot of contact to be honest with you. Fortunately everyone is healthy,
so thats a good thing. You have got to have
that. We haven't played in a long time and you need that contact."

On
how much it helps being back to a normal practice routine

"Yeah.
Definitely. It's been such a long time without playing. To get back on your
regular schedule, it just helps tremendously."

On
what are Notre Dame's greatest assests entering this game…

"Our
versatility. We have so many guys that are playmakers and that can do so many
things. You just can't lock in on one player."